


Scales Over the Eyes

by Dawn_Blossom



Category: Fire Emblem Heroes
Genre: 'choose not to warn' tag is because idk if grima's defeat warrants the major character death tag, (that was my working title for this fic), F/M, Grima is an absolute liar, M/M, Tempest Trials (Fire Emblem Heroes), all these characters need is snuggles but all any of them ever get is struggles, set during the Invisible Ties tempest trials
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-15
Updated: 2020-11-15
Packaged: 2021-03-09 19:41:40
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,339
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27581515
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dawn_Blossom/pseuds/Dawn_Blossom
Summary: “I didn't even notice you.”That man, claiming to be Robin reborn as Grima, spoke as though he found Chrom utterly insignificant. And yet…What of every word that had come before? Grima had not even responded to Robin until Chrom had rebuked him for ignoring her! Grima had very much noticed him. Grima had noticed himfirst.
Relationships: Chrom/Female My Unit | Reflet | Robin, Chrom/male Gimurei | Grima
Comments: 2
Kudos: 34





	Scales Over the Eyes

**Author's Note:**

> Yes I know the Invisible Ties TT was from 2018... ^^;;; (you can read the script [here](https://feheroes.gamepedia.com/Invisible_Ties) if you didn't play it or need a refresher)
> 
> If you follow me on twitter you may have seen me talking about this dialogue before (e.g. [here](https://twitter.com/newcleicacid/status/1259607300106596352)) and honestly I just wanted to write Grima getting called out for what has surely got to be the most poorly constructed lie he's ever told... 
> 
> Then, naturally, I got sad about Grima yet again.

_“Oh, Chrom... You're here? I didn't even notice you.”_

Chrom can’t stop repeating the words in his mind.

_“I didn't even notice you.”_

That man, claiming to be Robin reborn as Grima, spoke as though he found Chrom utterly insignificant. And yet…

What of every word that had come before? Grima had not even responded to Robin until Chrom had rebuked him for ignoring her! Grima had very much noticed him. Grima had noticed him _first._

“What’s he playing at…” Chrom mutters.

Why would Grima even bother lying about something like that? It boggles the mind…

“Don’t let him get into your head,” Robin snaps. “This whole place is one battlefield after another. We don’t have time to ponder his every word!”

“Right… Sorry.”

Robin has far more reason to be disturbed than he does. The things Grima told her… Could they really be the same person? Even accounting for the differences in their worlds, it’s hard to reconcile his beloved tactician with… with someone who would destroy the world.

“I won’t lose focus,” Chrom continues. “Leave him to me, okay? He won’t stand a chance against the Falchion. Then the tempest will be brought to an end.”

“I don’t know…” 

“Robin, he directly threatened YOUR life,” Chrom says. “Please… I can’t stand the thought of you going near him.”

“Yes… But you…” Robin frowns. “ I don’t trust him.”

“Funny, I don’t trust the person trying to kill us, either,” Chrom says. 

“That’s not what I— Oh, forget it.” Robin shakes her head. “It’s true you have the greatest advantage against him. Just promise me you’ll be careful. The thought of… l-losing you like this…”

She doesn’t usually express such fear on the battlefield… Indeed, it’s hard to get her to express her vulnerabilities at all, even when they are alone and Chrom’s dearest wish is to know her soul. She is a pillar of strength, but Chrom knows all too well how easy it is to crumble.

“I’ll be alright, my love.” Chrom presses a kiss to her cheek. “I would never leave you alone.”

Robin closes her eyes and makes no resistance.

“I’ll keep the others off your back,” she says. “My love… I want only to keep you safe.”

Chrom trusts absolutely that she will.

He approaches Grima cautiously. Most strikes have been coming from the dragon’s gaping jaws, but he has seen some come from… From…

Is he really supposed to say “Robin?”

“So you made it here…” comes a quiet voice, undistorted by the dragon’s throat. “No surprise… Blown through time and space by the tempest, most here are weakened and useless.”

Grima once again comes across as nonchalant. Too nonchalant.

_“I didn't even notice you.”_

“What do you want from me?” Chrom asks. “This casual act of yours… Didn’t you say I slew you before? You must know I can do it again!”

Grima scoffs.

“You? You’re stronger than I remember, true, but no human might can compare to mine!” he says. “You understand nothing… Had I the chance earlier… I would have killed you before your face ever came into view!”

All at once, the pretense falls, and Chrom is struck by his sudden fiery hatred.

“You already died once by my hands!” Grima says. “You cannot even imagine how much I want to kill you once more! I want your frail, lifeless corpse lying in front of me! I never want to hear you breathe a word—nay, a sound—again!”

Chrom scowls. Raising his sword defensively, he dares to say what he’s been thinking from the beginning.

“Is what you’re saying really the truth?” He grits his teeth. “If you’re Robin… there’s no way you would do anything for no reason. Some mistake happened, didn’t it, and that’s why you—”

“Do not speak of things you know nothing about!” Grima hisses. “Your being human is enough for me to want you out of my way. There is nothing special about you!”

“If you mean that,” Chrom challenges, “then why haven’t you attacked me yet?”

Grima falters for just a moment, and then, abruptly, he breaks into uproarious guffaws. There _is_ something familiar in the sound, something reminiscent of Robin’s stressed laughter, but… it is too unhinged to be from everyday stress, the gasps coming across almost as sobs, the giddiness a poor cover for agony.

“Are you so curious that you’d die to know?” Grima asks. “I am not afraid of killing you! Do you want to know the truth? Do you truly want to know why I desire YOU dead above all others?”

Before Chrom can so much as blink, Grima has already crossed half the distance between them, fell power crackling in his hands. Chrom has no time to think, let alone dodge. The blast hits him in the chest, but in the same instant, his sword slices through flesh, Grima having no way to dodge at this range either.

A weak chuckle escapes Grima’s lips. He slumps forward, but Chrom cannot bear the additional weight with the magic burning his skin. His armor saved him from utterly exploding with the force, but gods, even his bones feel like they’ve been set aflame. The two fall to the ground.

“Heh… The truth… is that… I’d rather see you… dead… than raising your sword… against me…” Grima chokes out. “Do you… believe that?”

Grima’s eyes are red, so far from the golden of the Robin Chrom knows. Even so, that look of longing is immediately recognizable. How long had he and his chief tactician spent keeping themselves apart, unable to follow their hearts while the war with Gangrel dragged on? How long had Chrom himself worn the tortured expression of a lover denied? Though it was never this intense, this desperate.

“You truly are my other half, aren’t you…” Chrom murmurs. “How could this happen… How could we ever become enemies?”

“Fate… willed it… so…” Grima says. “And now… the tempest will dissipate… unbending our realities… Fate will again rule… and it is already written… that I died at your hands.”

Writhing to the side, he presses his lips to Chrom’s cheek in a mockery of a kiss… Or perhaps in a genuine one, meant for a man long dead.

“Robin…”

But Chrom has never been eloquent, and his words fail him now. For all that he wants to believe fate can be changed, this tragedy has already come to pass in a world that is not his own. If there is any way he can help, he does not know of it.

“I’m sorry,” is all he can say.

“Spare me,” Grima says, his expression twisting in disgust as he drags himself to a kneel. Shuddering, he pulls the Falchion from his body, drops it beside Chrom, and…

The storm clouds above them stop churning, and Grima disappears into thin air. It will take some time for the tempest to completely clear, but the future will be bright. They have won.

“Chrom!” Robin cries.

A blur of white and purple streaks to his side.

“Are you okay?” she asks, kneeling next to him.

“It’s nothing the healers can’t fix,” Chrom says. 

It’s a painful struggle to sit up, but with Robin there, he has the strength to power through.

“Self-loathing…” Robin mutters. “Oh, I understand what he means, alright… That bastard!”

In her voice is a fiery hatred for the one hurting her beloved so.

Chrom squeezes her hand. Is there some disaster awaiting them ahead? A tragedy that could rip them apart?

“H-Hey, what’s with that face?” Robin’s anger turns immediately to concern.

“Don’t worry. I was only thinking,” Chrom says. "I love you, Robin. I just want to make sure I say that often."

Robin’s expression smooths over.

“I know that…” she says. “And I love you too. More than anything…”

Their bonds are strong… Too strong to ever be broken. Of that, Chrom has no doubt.

Whatever went wrong in that other world… Chrom will simply have to be prepared to stop it in his.


End file.
